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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29157588">a letter to fandom</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>No Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bi/Pan Erasure, Bisexuality, LGBTQIA+, Meta, Sexuality, Shipping, fandom has a bi/pan erasure problem, pansexuality</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:08:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>387</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29157588</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>not all m/f ships are heterosexual. stop treating them as such.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

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<a name="section0001"><h2>a letter to fandom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dear Fandom (yes, Fandom as a whole, not just a specific series,) </p><p>STOP ERASING BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL/OTHER M-SPEC IDENTITIES. </p><p>Seriously. Stop. </p><p>Every day I see "ew het" or "mlm/wlw is better than het ships" and other variations on this theme. Sometimes it's in the comments of fic/art by LGBTQIA+ creators who have depicted a ship that could be perceived as heterosexual. Sometimes it's in a twitter or tumblr post about a specific ship. Sometimes it's in a general shipping post. It's everywhere. Every time they think they are "owning the hets" or some other bullshit by deriding M/F ships. All they're doing is shitting on people with m-spec identities. </p><p>Is this as serious as erasing these identities in real life? No. HOWEVER, erasing them within fandom spaces is a pretty good sign that they're also erasing those identities in real life as well. If you can't see a M/F couple depicted by an LGBTQIA+ creator as possibly still being LGBTQIA+, you're almost certainly doing the same outside fandom spaces with real people who don't look queer enough to be seen as LGBTQIA+ while dating someone of a different gender. </p><p>Regardless of how crap the depictions are within the canon source of any M/F pairings, it's not "boring" to ship M/F ships. Those ships can be as much an exploration of LGBTQIA+ identities as any mlm, wlw, mlnb, wlnb, nblnb ships are. Of course, not all writers/artists who create M/F ships do so with LGBTQIA+ representation in mind, but many do. Creator intention doesn't really matter for the enjoyment of M/F ships - though it can certainly improve the experience. If someone likes a M/F ship, they might enjoy the art/writing regardless of whether the ship is being portrayed as heterosexual or as an m-spec relationship.</p><p>Every time you say something negative about M/F ships while praising visibly LGBTQIA+ ships, you are erasing and crapping on m-spec identities. You're free to not like any or all M/F ships. You don't have to enjoy the creation or consumption of M/F ship content. But you absolutely need to stop treating them as exclusively heterosexual ships that only heterosexuals could possibly enjoy. Treating it like it's exclusively heterosexual is erasure of m-spec identities. </p><p>Signed, </p><p>A Pansexual in Fandom</p>
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